Dan Beighley has joined the Business Journal as a reporter covering finance, manufacturing and aerospace.
Born and raised in Chicago, Beighley has found a new home in Orange County where he has lived for the past three years.
Beighley most recently worked at Crittenden Research Inc., a California-based publisher of real estate and insurance newsletters. He covered the hotel and restaurant industries.
At Crittenden, Beighley’s stories focused on development, finance and private equity deals.
Some of the companies he wrote about included InterContinental Hotels Group PLC, Hilton Hotels Corp. and Marriott International Inc., as well as McDonald’s Corp., Wendy’s International Inc. and Yum Brands Inc., parent of Irvine’s Taco Bell Corp.
Beighley also wrote about local companies Sunstone Hotel In-vestors Inc. of San Clemente and Irvine’s El Pollo Loco Inc.
In college, Beighley worked on the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade as a clerk. He later was an analyst and writer for Internet-based Trading-Markets Financial Group. He has a National Association of Securities Dealers Series 7 license.
At TradingMarkets, Beighley’s stock analysis was based on a combination of fundamental and technical criteria applied by hedge funds. Having experienced both the boom and bust of tech stocks in the past decade, he learned to adapt to successful long and short investing strategies.
Beighley flirted with a career in sales as financial adviser. But he said he realized his love of business and writing was best suited for reporting.
He also has written for the Los Angeles Times community papers, where he covered the police, fire and education beats in Laguna Beach. There he also wrote feature articles on the community’s art scene and environmental issues.
Beighley is a graduate of Loyola Univer-sity Chicago where he earned a bachelor’s of science degree in psychology and was a member of the school’s defunct NCAA Division 1 swim team.
A world traveler, Beighley counts more than 20 countries he has visited. Europe, China and New Zealand have been some of his most memorable experiences, with each new adventure adding to his desire to see more. Next on his list: Africa.
A resident of Laguna Beach, he lives with his girlfriend and their yellow Labrador Bailey. In his spare time he enjoys golf and taking Bailey to the beach. Always learning something new, his latest projects include playing guitar and cooking. Despite all his efforts, he still surfs like he’s from Chicago.
